Oakland hires new school business administrator

Oakland - The Board of Education has hired a permanent business administrator, a post that has seen significant turnover in recent years.

The school board of the K-8 district approved a contract with Kyle Bleeker, current business administrator for the Wanaque School District in Passaic County, at its March 19 meeting. He also previously served as an assistant business administrator in the Wyckoff K-8 district.

He will begin July 1 and earn an annual base salary of $137,500, according to interim business administrator Joan Dunn.

The board introduced Bleeker at its March 27 budget hearing, more than a week after approving the contract of the district's new permanent superintendent, Dr. Gina Coffaro.

Coffaro also is scheduled to start July 1.

Bleeker said in an email March 22 that he will work with Dunn to ensure a "smooth transition."

"I feel that I need to have a firm grasp of the current operations in Oakland before I create any goals," he said.

Dunn has served as the district's interim business administrator since December 2011, a little more than a month after James Davis left the position for the larger Scotch Plains-Fanwood K-12 district in Union County.

Dunn earns a base salary of $126,500, according to the 2013-2014 budget.

Davis started in the district in May 2010, succeeding two interim business administrators, Vincent Yaniro and Dr. Joseph Amatuzzi, who served following Louis Pepe's departure from the position in March 2008. Oakland has not had a business administrator serve for more than two years since Pepe resigned.